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All Blacks may not require called reinforcements

James Mortimer 28 Nov 2012 Getty Images

The All Blacks welcomed Tom Taylor and Hika Elliot into their ranks overnight, reinforcements called in considering injuries to Dan Carter and Keven Mealamu, which may rule the two senior players out of action ahead of the World Champions fourth Test of their Air New Zealand European Tour.

Taylor made the long haul from Thailand, one of the members of the victorious Canterbury ITM Cup Premiership winning outfit, and was wrapping up a holiday in Phuket before the All Blacks sent out the call.

While some outside of New Zealand rugby circles may feel that Taylor's callup is a bit leftfield, he is the son of former All Black Warwick Taylor, who played for New Zealand from 1983 to 1988, while his uncle Murray is also part of the All Blacks fraternity.

Taylor will link up with Aaron Cruden and Beauden Barrett as players able to conduct operations at first five-eighth, but assistant coach Ian Foster said that Carter may still line up against England at Twickenham this weekend.

"He's (Carter) looking pretty good but it's early in the week," he said.

"We have a number of guys who are bruised and sore today so we are going to be taking it easy the next two days to see where everybody is at before we finalise things."

Elliot has linked up with the squad from the Maori All Blacks, who completed their Aoteoroa Fisheries European Tour with a win over Canada over the weekend.

With Mealamu nursing a calf injury, and Hore still to face an IRB judiciary, Elliot joins up with Dane Coles as two hookers 100% likely to face the Red Rose.